Dead Island 2 Preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse Next Year; Title Delayed to 2016

During last year’s E3 2014, one of the more surprising announcements during Sony’s press conference came in the form of Dead Island 2, a sequel to the popular zombie-action series that was previously expected to release in Spring 2015 – however, the zombie apocalypse appears to be held off for one more year.

In a tweet through the official Dead Island Twitter account, developer Yager and publisher Deep Silver announced that Dead Island 2 will be delayed from its initial Spring 2015 release to sometime in 2016, citing more development time needed for the title and polish it to the stage it needs to be at. The full statement from the development team is below on the game’s delay:

We have always set ourselves a big goal for Dead Island 2: to create the sequel that takes Dead Island to the next level. A game that takes what our fans tell us they love about Dead Island – multiple different characters to play with, co-op, and turning a paradise setting into a zombie slaughter melee – and a game that adds a ton more content and combat options on top of that.

And we wanted to have all of that that done for release in Spring 2015.

We have been looking at the game long and hard, and we have decided we didn’t reach that goal we set out to achieve quite yet. This is why we have decided to delay Dead Island 2 to 2016.

Right now we are focusing purely on development, and we will have more info to share at a later stage.

We know that our fans will be disappointed by this news, but by giving Dead Island 2 more time we are confident that everyone will get a better game to play as a result.

Dead Island 2 is currently in development for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and is now expected for release in 2016.

Ryan is the Features Editor at DualShockers, with over five years' experience in the world of video games culture and writing. He holds a BA in English & Cinema from Binghamton University, and lives in New York City.